Urban Exchange

Urban Exchange panel members are a diverse group

More than 4300 Winnipeggers have participated in Urban Exchange so far.  That’s enough people to fill the Burton Cummings Theatre, Pantages Playhouse, Prairie Theatre Exchange and MTC Mainstage combined.

The Urban Exchange Advisory Panel is a diverse group – about as diverse as the fantastic performances you might see during any given theatre season in Winnipeg.   They’re men and women with different socioeconomic backgrounds, from all areas of the city.  They’ve reported dozens of cultural and/or ethnic backgrounds.

About 8% of the participants identified themselves as First Nations, Métis or Inuit, close to the actual percentage of Aboriginal people living in Winnipeg (about 10%, according to the 2006 Census – pdf).

More than 1000 youth (ages 15-24) have completed Urban Exchange surveys.  About 250 people ages 75and over have participated, too.

At 96 years old, Wilhelmina Klimpke (pictured above) is one of the more seasoned members of the Advisory Panel.  A lifelong volunteer, Wilhelmina has always believed that it’s important to be involved in her community.  She decided to fill out our questionnaire on social issues when it was published in the Winnipeg Free Press, and she’s continued to participate in Urban Exchange, even staying in touch with United Way staff by telephone every now and then.

Wilhelmina grew up just outside Winnipeg, and has lived in the city with her husband Carl for more than 60 years.  She served time in the Air Force as a parachute rigger and spent some time studying interior design after that.

Earlier this fall, Wilhelmina was interviewed by the Winnipeg Free Press about her involvement with Urban Exchange.  You can read the story by clicking here.

How would you spend $1000?

Thanks for dropping by! Let’s get right to the big question:

GenNext weighs in: creating better lives for everyone

United Way’s GenNext Council is a group of passionate young adults who want to make a difference in the community. They’re working to spark the same excitement among their friends and colleagues – their hope is to create a network of young leaders who are involved in creating opportunities for a better life for everyone.

“By investing time, skills, money and energy into our community and inspiring our peers to do the same, we can make a very real and lasting difference,” said Colin Ryan, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, BMO Nesbitt Burns and GenNext Chair.

During GenNext’s Red October event, which was attended by almost 200 young community leaders, dozens of people took the time to decorate a graffiti wall with their ideas for how to create a better life for everyone in Winnipeg. The result was a fantastic montage of thoughts, opinions, and concrete ideas.

One participant wrote: “We all need to work together and realize we share the same vision . . . a city for everyone!” Another suggested that we need to “take personal responsibility for the well-being of our children”, adding that it’s “important to take the time to invest in young lives – build relationships and create meaningful opportunities for kids to reach their potential!”

Naturally, some of the perennial favourites popped up on the graffiti wall – a couple of people mentioned bringing the NHL back to Winnipeg, and others wrote about bringing more people downtown at night.

For the most part, though, GenNext participants were focused on creating opportunities for youth. They’ll be acting on their ideas, too. Over the next several months, they’ll be helping out with the homework club at West Broadway Youth Outreach, fixing bikes and skateboards, and hosting a children’s holiday party.

Click here to read more about GenNext’s Red October event.

Exploring Our Values – an in-depth look (closed)

**This survey is now closed**

We need your opinion on a few things, and if you want to weigh in right now, please feel free to get started by clicking here.

If you’re not sure if you have something to say, consider these questions . . .

• If you had $1000 to donate, would you spend it on reducing poverty or decreasing crime? What about increasing neighbourhood safety? Or access to affordable housing? What about youth gang activity?

• Is it better to do something about the immediate impacts of these issues or should we try to prevent them from happening in the first place?

• How do people treat you when you’re out and about in Winnipeg? Are they polite? Do they respect you? Do you feel safe?

• How should we treat each other in Winnipeg?

Our values – the ideas and beliefs we care about most deeply – drive our behaviour. We make decisions based on the values that are most important to us – ultimately shaping the city we live in.

What’s important to you? What kind of city do you want Winnipeg to be?

Please let us know by filling out the latest Urban Exchange survey.

Urban Exchange is a United Way of Winnipeg Advisory Panel made up of hundreds of Winnipeggers from all walks of life who are interested in shaping the future of our city by talking about what’s important to them.

We’d love for you to join the panel – if you’d rather just fill out this one survey, that’s okay, too.

What will we do with your information?

United Way uses the summarized results to:

• Understand the vision, concerns, priorities and values of Winnipeggers
• Help guide and affirm United Way’s decisions about priorities and areas of importance
• Identify new areas and challenges on which to focus

United Way will share the summarized results with you and other participants.

We will also share the summarized information with decision-makers, planners and service providers in government, business, and voluntary organizations so it can inform their decisions.

A few words about privacy . . .

No information will be shared that could identify individuals or small groups of individuals. None of the individual information you provide will be shared with anyone for any other purpose than that of Urban Exchange. And your information will not be used to solicit donations. (For our complete privacy policy, please click here.)

For more information about this survey, or about Urban Exchange in general, please give us a call at 477-5360 or email us at Urban.Exchange[at]UnitedWayWinnipeg.mb.ca.

To begin filling out the survey, please click here to get started.

Your Say: What do you love about Winnipeg? Part 3

When we relaunched MyCityMySay.ca, we asked you to tell us what you love about Winnipeg. (You can find the original article here.)

The response has been very positive. While fictional character Michael Scott from NBC’s The Office may not have enjoyed his trip to Winnipeg (in the episode that ran on 11/14/2008), he didn’t get out to see much of our city.

The next time Michael Scott comes to Winnipeg, he should get a MyCityMySay.ca reader to pick him up at the airport. These next few people obviously know where to look for all the great things we love.

Pam Tonsaker loves Winnipeg because of:

. . . our tree canopy, our post-secondary institutions, our Legislative Building, our Golden Boy glistening and shining brightly day or night, our Open Doors event in May, our ability to get around Winnipeg quickly regardless of where you start, our winters, our blue skies, our ethnic diversity, our Canadian geese, our BDI, our love of curling, our Bombers, our Moose, our Goldeyes, our volunteer spirit, our desire for change, our new airport being developed, our two main rivers – the Red and the Assiniboine, our Forks, our Via train station, our grain farms close to the city centre, our summer thunderstorms, our grain commission, our small towns from which to draw for numerous events and festivities to keep us entertained, our Debbie at the zoo, our grass lands in St. James, our bridge in St. Boniface, our many shopping centres to met and greet friends, our Exchange district and our fabulous architecture, our yummy restaurants, our mosquitoes ( only when they are gone – so love our seasonal changes ), our creativity coming in all types and venues, our world class Human Rights museum to be built here, our MTS Centre, our caring and compassionate ways to help others, and lastly our friends, family and the citizens who call this home and wouldn’t be anywhere else. My Winnipeg, my home!!

Jason is a bit of a sports fan:

I love Winnipeg because of the extremely friendly people in this city. We are very generous and very much caring. I also love how our city supports all types of cultures and everybody loves all the different events. I also love the Blue Bombers, Moose and the Goldeyes.

Gilbert Laberge is a proud member of Manitoba’s francophone community and lists the following things as highlights:

• The pathways and close proximity to Bird’s Hill, Saint-Malo, Assiniboine & Saint-Vital Parks, to name some of the largest.
• The ability to live as a bilingual person without burden.
• The fresh air we breathe in the heart of the continent.
• The lesser intensity of rainfalls around the Forks area.
• The freshness and aromas of the Fall season.
• The tolerance of the multicultural for the French culture.
• A peaceful electoral process.
• The goal of achieving the righting of the right of the poor to a decent life we all deserve.

Jane Brueton likes the size of Winnipeg and the fact that friendly faces are everywhere:

I love the fact that it only takes twenty minutes from my home to downtown; that I can explore every section and part of the city and not get lost and even if I do there will be a friendly face to help me find my way home; that Winnipeggers take pride in their city and their surroundings; that we have so many parks, recreation areas and green spaces within the city limits; that when attending concerts at the MTS Center you are likely to meet someone you know and stop and chat; that although the geese herald winter in the fall there is no sound that is more lovely at dusk and no sight as magical as thousands of birds setting down for night, except perhaps the RWB company in performance!

I love that I live in a multi-cultural city and bilingual city where there is always something interesting and fun to do. I choose to move here, not once but twice and I absolutely love living in Winnipeg. The cost of living, access to the arts and the personality of its citizens are the true gems of Winnipeg, my home.

Finally, Noelle Depape sent in this list:

• Guerrilla Art
• Thanh Huong Restaurant on Sargent – # 6 Beef Satay Noodle Soup
• Wolseley mornings at Tall Grass Bakery and Prairie Sky Books
• A microcosm of the world at Central Park
• The polar bears hanging out at the Leg
• The river skating rink

Thanks again to everyone who’s sent something in. We still have some t-shirts left so if you want to tell us what you love about Winnipeg, please email a photo, video or paragraph to urban.exchange@unitedwaywinnipeg.mb.ca.

We’d love to hear from you!